Our Neighborhood

Synergy School honors and reflects the vibrancy of its neighborhood. Since 1999, the school has been located in San Francisco’s multi-cultural Mission District.

The area has a rich history. Before the Spanish settled here in the late 1700s, the Mission area was home to the nomadic Ohlone Indians, who made their home for more than 2,000 years in the Bay Area.

Throughout the years the area has been home to immigrants of all backgrounds including Polish, Italians and the Irish. After World War II broke out, new immigrants from Central America were recruited to work in local factories to support the war effort.

After the war, additional waves of immigrants mostly from Latin countries filled the Mission area. People arrived from Mexico, Cuba, El Salvador, Bolivia, Chile, Guatemala, and Nicaragua and created a rich tapestry.

As the 1960s arrived, activists and artists worked to capture the struggles and celebrated the Mission’s rich cultural ethos. Street art in the form of colorful murals sprung up on building walls along streets and alleyways. Even with modern day gentrification, the diverse neighborhood is still rich with Latin American heritage.

Over the years, Valencia Street has gone from a four lane thoroughfare to one with slower, two lanes of traffic and shared space for bicycles.

Resource: The Mission, KQED: https://www.kqed.org/w/hood/mission/aboutprogram.html